Federspiel appeared for the rst time in Krems-an-der-Donau in 2004, when the eldest of the musicians had just turned 16. Twelve years and several hundred concerts later, they present their fourth album: Smaragd. Six brass players and a clarineist who have moved seamlessly from the Lower Austrian Schneeberg region to the Metropolitan Museum, from local dance stories to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, from the Dolomites to the Innviertel and further eastwards with a bang. Always on the hunt for points of contact between the world ... and the world. Or rather, between folk music and the music of the world. We hear unbridled joy in playing and youthful carelessness, in the best sense of the word, which can only be careless because it knows what cares are. Krems is, by the way, where the famous winegrowing region of Wachau begins. There in its vineyard terraces you o en come across the green lizard whose name the vintners have given to their best wines: "Smaragd" - emerald.

“Federspiel” (which literally means “falconry”) is a quality designation for the wine of the Wachau region of Austria, where most of the musicians in Federspiel more or less grew up, or at least have spent some time (which is hardly surprising, if you know what the Federspiel wines from the Wachau are like). Without any fear of contact, the seven-piece band combines Alpine folk with elements of world music. Their own compositions largely refer to the musical and biographical roosts of the musicians, and determine the overlap between tradition and experimental joy ever anew.

Recommendation

Milestones of electroacoustic music – from Varèse to Ferneyhough – investigated from a music-historical perspective and presented in contemporary 5.1 surround sound.

Sferraina create an enchanting sound space, where music from past eras continually overlaps and interacts with the present. Highly recommended!

“Trio Catch are like a fresh new brand for the old lady New Music.” (﻿www.vanmagazin.com) — Could there be a catchier way of phrasing it?